Seven cattle operations were recognized as regional winners of the 2014 regional Environmental Stewardship Award Program. The awards, announced during the 2014 Cattle Industry Summer Conference, honor the industry's best land stewards. The seven regional winners will now compete for the national ESAP award, which will be announced during the 2015 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show in San Antonio, Texas.

The awards, now in their 24th year, were developed to recognize beef producers for their efforts to implement practices which improve the environmental sustainability of their operations. The ESAP award is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, USDA Natural Resources Conservations Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the National Cattlemen's Foundation.

"The cattlemen and women of this country take seriously their responsibility to the environment. Each of these award recipients serves as a shining example of how the beef industry is working to preserve open space and leave the land better than they found it," said NCBA President Bob McCan. "The ESAP award serves as a showcase for the practices used by farmers and ranchers to improve air, land and water quality. Those practices, in turn benefit the land, improve fish and wildlife habitat and serve as an outstanding example to their fellow producers."

The work by cattlemen and women to protect their natural resources helps to improve the environmental sustainability of the beef industry. Those efforts also help this year's regional winners improve the land for future generations, a goal shared by each of these operations.